


give yourself to another night.

by amberwoods



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon, metamorphmagus!ted, the ending got surprisingly angsty, trans!ted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 17:04:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12137094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amberwoods/pseuds/amberwoods
Summary: It attracted her, this understanding of him. She’d always been perceptive, but not like this. She wanted to know more.She didn’t know how she finally gained the courage to approach him one night in the astronomy tower. Normally, she’d turn around and find another spot. But she had been watching him for two years and her longing got the better of her.She wanted to be understood too.





	give yourself to another night.

**Author's Note:**

> un-betaed

Andromeda Black liked things to add up. It was the only way she could properly deal with things – her parents, her upbringing, her education. It needed to fit. Even her friends. It was why she liked the house system so much: it was ordered. It was efficient.

When things didn’t add up, she would get frustrated. Her instinctive reaction was denial, but she already tried to fight that. These things _did_ exist, and in their own way they _had_ to add up. She just had to find that way.

Yet she had never been as dedicated to figuring out how something added up as she was with Theodora Tonks – Ted.

He was a Ravenclaw, and it suited him. He liked knowledge. He liked facts. He liked puzzles. He liked the stars. They were alike, in that way. Sometimes, late at night, when she snuck out of her room to look at the night sky, he was already at the top of the astronomy tower. She never showed herself to him, but she liked finding him there.

But Ted was more than just a Ravenclaw. Ted was… strange. It wasn’t just the fact that he was a metamorphmagus. It wasn’t that he chose to look like a boy at all times. She didn’t understand it, but at least it was consistent. He didn’t hide who he was, and she respected that about him. She respected the pragmatic way he kept correcting the teachers who called him Theodora.

The thing about Ted Tonks that didn’t add up was mostly how he made her feel.

She _understood_ him. She could read him easily, even when she knew others couldn’t. She saw the passion he had for certain subjects, the kindness that shone through in small gestures – and mostly the pain.

God, he was in so much pain. And it wasn’t just the name. Yes, she saw him wince slightly at times when someone called him ‘she’. At other times, his expression went blank, as if he was forcing it to bounce off him. But there was more to it. There was a longing in his pain, a hopelessness. As if he wanted _more_ somehow.

_He was just like her._

It was something that still astonished her every time she realised it. She had never met anyone who reminded her of herself this way – especially since she’d never really spoken to him. She’d caught his eye, once or twice. He’d smiled at her then and she wondered if he knew how much she understood. Whether he could see it too.

Maybe she was delusional. But that didn’t add up either.

It attracted her, this understanding of him. She’d always been perceptive, but not like this. She wanted to know more.

She didn’t know how she finally gained the courage to approach him one night in the astronomy tower. Normally, she’d turn around and find another spot. But she had been watching him for two years and her longing got the better of her.

She wanted to be understood too.

Andromeda pushed open the door further and saw him notice it from the corner of his eye. He turned his head towards her in surprise, but he didn’t speak to her. After a second or two, he smiled.

She smiled back tentatively and joined him where he was standing in silence. He seemed unsure where the situation was taking him, but when she quietly turned to look at the sky, he went along with it.

“I like the stars,” Andromeda said, and it was all she could get out of her mouth.

She glanced at Ted, because she had noticed he always tried to look the person he was having a conversation with in the eye. And, yes, he was turning to look at her as well.

“So do I,” he said.

“I know,” she answered, “I’ve seen you here before.”

“Why didn’t you join me?”

She turned back to the stars, because there was no way she could look him in the eye if they were having this conversation. “I suppose I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” he urged gently.

“I never quite know.”

He nodded and looked back at the stars as well. Just with that nod, that sign of comprehension, Andromeda wanted to cry. She felt the treacherous tears well up in her eyes, but she forced them down. This was not the time for crying. This was her very first conversation with Ted Tonks.

“Did you know the muggles are planning on going to the moon?”

Andromeda looked at Ted in surprise. _To the moon?_

“No,” she said, “How would they do that?”

“They are building a machine,” he told her with a smile, “That’s going to take them there.”

Andromeda let out a deep breath. _To the moon..._ “That sounds wonderful.”

“If I wasn’t a wizard, I might have joined them.”

Andromeda felt a pulse of truth rage through her chest and, before she could stop herself, it spilled over her lips. “If I wasn’t a witch, I might have joined them too.”

He looked over at her in surprise and she felt a blush come on. That could have gone for heresy in her family, and they both knew it.

But she liked surprising him. She liked letting him… know her.

“Can you imagine being near a star?” she asked him, her voice still shaking, heading back into safer territory.

“Of course.”

When she looked at him this time, he had a grin on his face and _oh God, that should be illegal._ Still, she managed to arch an eyebrow in a questioning manner.

“Your name is Andromeda, isn’t it?” he explained.

And that was it, she was _done for,_ she was _gone,_ she had gone up, straight into space, she had started flying, flying, flying…

She nodded.

“It’s funny you like the stars so much, with that name,” Ted said with a smile.

Andromeda pursed her lips. “Hardly. Many of my family are named after constellations.”

He nodded. “That’s a fair point.”

They looked at the stars quietly for a little while.

“What’s your favourite?” she then whispered.

He pointed up, a slow drag of his arm to the sky like he was lifting his wand for a spell. “The morning star.” Ted looked at her. “What’s yours?”

The stars were reflected in Andromeda’s eyes, and for a moment she felt like they entered her bloodstream and became a part of her. “I don’t have one,” she whispered back.

They looked at each other and, again, she felt like she had shared something personal. Their conversation felt intimate.

A breeze crossed the astronomy tower and Andromeda tugged at her sleeve against the cold. In doing so, she briefly brushed Ted’s hand, and it startled them both. For a moment, they just looked at each other, wide-eyed. Then Andromeda started stumbling back.

“I-I should go back to bed. _To sleep._ ” She added the latter almost horrified at him thinking she was inviting him.

“Yes, of course,” Ted muttered as a response, his eyes on her. Then, he seemed to shake himself from his trance. He approached her. “Let me walk you back.”

“Oh, no, that’s really not necessary,” Andromeda said as she moved backwards without turning away from him, “It’s much easier to be spotted when you’re with two instead of one. I’ll be fine.”

He halted and she thought she saw a little disappointment in his eyes.

“I will see you tomorrow,” Andromeda offered bravely.

His eyes lit up again. “Yes,” he said.

“Bye Ted,” she said, before turning the corner and quickly heading back to her dorm. Her heart was pounding in her chest and adrenaline was coursing through her as though she had fought a dragon instead of had a conversation with a boy.

She could feel a dreadful inevitability settle over her. For a moment, it made her wish she had never approached him. It felt like something had been set in motion – something inescapable. Like the arrows of a clock had started moving, suddenly.

And they were pointing straight at her.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to give them some love.


End file.
